Naturally Dyed Knit Dress

My most recent make is a simple, fitted knit dress, perfect for spring time! 

As I mentioned in this Instagram post, I love having the ability to make clothes custom fit to my body and my style. This dress is a comfortable length (not too short for chasing a toddler around) and its fitted but not too tight. This thick ponte knit fabric from Joann is very forgiving, also not at all see through! 

One night I was itching to sew something, but I had no project in mind. I started digging through my stash, hoping to use up something that I already have, and I stumbled across this white ponte knit from Joann. 

I knew right away that I wanted to make another knit dress (my last one gets worn all the time!), however I didn't want it to be stark white. 

Luckily I've been saving onion skins and avocado pits to naturally dye fabric, so I pulled my red onion skin stash from the freezer! 

I boiled the onion skins in a big pot of water for over an hour. I then got the fabric wet with hot water and put it in the dye bath (I used my sink since my pot was not big enough for that much fabric). 

The fabric soaked overnight and the result was this beautiful blush shade! It was just what I wanted, something light and breezy other than stark white. 

Such a beautiful subtle pink color!

I am so inspired by the beautiful colors that Sara from Farm & Folk achieves from natural dyes and the beautiful quilts that she makes. 

I plan on doing a lot more research and learning all I can about natural dyes.

I got started right away with turning it into a dress! I used the same self drafted pattern I used for my last dress, serged it all together, and used a double needle for the hems. It all came together (cut out and sewn) in less than two hours! 

I am so happy with how it turned out! It will be a staple in my spring/summer wardrobe, and I might need to make a few more. 

For my body type, I have to lengthen dresses to avoid them being too short, and I often have to drop the waist (my torso is very long). I love the freedom that comes with sewing my own clothes. I get to make whatever works best for me and as a result I have a closet full of clothes I feel so great in!

My husband coaching me on how to pose

Me Made May 2018

I survived my first Me Made May! 

I thought it would be a breeze because 99% of what I make is for myself. 

I quickly realized, however, that I only had about 15 items that would work. Some of my me-made items only work in the fall and winter due to material or color. I was much more limited than I thought, so first thing I did the night before May 1st was make a new top. 

Here are the photos I got each day of my me-made items, from the 1st to the 31st: 

I had a lot of repeats, and five of the items were made during the month of May. 

My goal for the month was to wear one me-made item each day.

Im really glad I followed through with it because it pushed me to get creative some days and it motivated me to make more.

I've come away from this experience with a new goal (one I've never considered before): I want to have a 100% handmade wardrobe someday soon.

Tiered Ruffle Sleeves

My last trip to the fabric district began, of course, with a stop at Michael Levine Loft! 

My sister-in-law Rachel and I both left with a matching white and orange striped knit. 

I knew right away that I wanted to make a comfortable summer dress. 

The next morning, my son took a long nap and I was able to start and finish the dress in one sitting!

The pattern was simple. I grabbed a shirt and a pencil skirt from my closet that fit me well and I laid them out on the fabric and cut around them, adding some room for seam allowance. 

I did the same thing for the sleeve.  

I was inspired by this top, so I measured the circumference of the sleeve hem and I cut two strips of fabric that were one and a half times longer than the circumference, one strip wider than the other. 

Trying it on to check the fit! 

I used a double needle for all of the hems and it created such a clean finish! 

I wore this dress multiple times that first week! It is my favorite me-made item so far, but I've said that about each item I make... 

I am really loving the sleeve detail! I will probably be adding the same tiered ruffle to more things I make this summer. 

Vintage Dress Refashion

When I was a senior, I took a road trip to Salt Lake City with some friends. Each trip to Salt Lake as incomplete without a stop at Decades. My friends and I loved vintage clothing and always left that store with a treasure or two. 

My goal for that shopping trip was to find a cool vintage dress to wear to prom. 

I bought this pink dress hoping to alter it a bit and clean it for prom. Unfortunately, I wore a different dress to prom. This dress sat in the back of my closet for nine years! 

It's made of a crepe-y fabric and has an accordion pleated skirt and a surplice bodice with pleated darts, cap sleeves, and a lapel (tacked under in this image)

A few months ago, it caught my attention again and I decided I would give it another shot. Although beautiful as a dress, it was a little too formal. I loved the skirt of it, though, and wanted to be able to wear it and not look over the top. 

I simply cut the dress about a half inch above the waist line. I then attached 1-inch thick bias tape to the waist band, being careful to attach it in just the right place so that, when it would be folded over, it would have a clean finish. I then attached thick elastic the seam allowance so that the waist would hold its shape and size. 

At this point I tried it on and was disappointed with the amount of bulk the seam allowance was adding to the waistline. To fix it, I top stitched around the whole waist to keep the seam allowance down. And it fixed the problem! After that, All I had to do was reinforce the zipper and add a hook and eye. 

I wore this skirt to church with a simple white shirt and turquoise earrings. I felt like a million bucks! It is obvious that this is an old dress-turned-skirt. It has a few small stains (I have yet to get it cleaned.. its next on my list!) and the color is very unique.

It is a one-of-a-kind skirt! The kind that was worth the nine year wait. 

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Viviana's Wedding Dress Alterations

Viviana got married last weekend!

Her dress was so gorgeous! it was an ivory lace and tule dress with a tan lining. She wanted to add more lace to the neckline and hem the dress to be a shorter, even-length hem. 

The dress before any alterations, hem pinned to new length

The neckline detail with the tule extending up to the collar bone

Adding Lace was a fun, time consuming change. I was able to use one large piece for the majority of the add-on with individual flowers added along the existing lace and the neckline edge.

I pinned all of the lace pieces in place and spent some time perfecting it so that it looked even and beautiful. I used invisible thread to attach the lace. 

Lace pinned in place

Lace addition complete!

After the lace was completed, it sat untouched for a few days because I knew I would want to do the whole hem at once and not have to do it in 30 minute increments. 

One day while Peter slept, I cut the hem... TEN INCHES TOO SHORT! 

I don't know how I made such a huge mistake or where my mind was, but I caught it after I had made a two food long cut through both layers of the lining skirt. 

As soon as I realized what I had done, Peter woke up and I didn't get a chance to fix it that day. Spending a few days thinking about it and brainstorming how to fix it helped in the long run because I was not frantic and I knew exactly how I was going to patch it.

My sister-in-law came to watch Peter so I could spend half a day sewing. First thing I did was baste some extra fabric from the hem onto the hole so I could make sure it was still laying flat. 

The dreaded hole, temporarily based shut with extra fabric from hem as reinforcement

Next, I used some more extra fabric and I practiced a few different techniques and stitches to see what would hide the scar best. 

The did a machine stitch on the underneath layer, but hand stitched the top layer because it was the most hidden. It took quite a long time, but it turned out great and hardy noticeable. Once both layers were patched, I hemmed the skirt and closed up the skirt. All of the patch work is concealed between the two layers, giving it a pretty good finish.

The hem is even all the way around the dress and I top stitched to give the edge a nice crisp line. 

Lining hemmed! Ready to hem tule layers

Cutting the tule was very simple because there is no finish at the hem. I went back and forth between handing it up to laying it out on the floor to get the perfect, even length. 

The finished project:

Bet you can't even locate the patch!

Viviana looked amazing in her dress! It is such a gorgeous dress, and, despite the colossal mistake I made, everything else turned out perfect and the patch is almost impossible to spot, even to someone who knows exactly where it is. 

Nursing Friendly with Bell Sleeves Update

Here are some pictures of me wearing the dress I recently made.

The trim detail and subtle color contrast turned out even better than I expected! The front zipper makes nursing easy and discreet.

If I were to remake this dress, I would add some length and I would add even more fullness to the bell sleeves.

Close up of some of the details (and of Peter!) 

Dresses for Weddings

Wedding season approaches!

Here is a throwback to a few dresses I made myself for weddings over the years.

My good friend Madeleine got married in 2011. Her official bridesmaids were her five sisters, but she told a few friends to wear green so that we could still coordinate. I loved how the different shades of green looked together. 

This isn't a great shot of the dress I made, but I used a pattern from a Built by Wendy Dresses book I had. For years, the patterns from that book were all I used when sewing for myself. I modified the skirt to be a circle skirt rather than A-line and the bodice was pretty basic with a scoop neck and short sleeves. 

In 2012, our friend Rachel got married. Her bridesmaids were her four sisters and her best friend and they wore mint green. The four of us pictured coincidentally all showed up wearing shades of blue. It was unintentional, but it resulted in a cute picture with the bride! 

The dress I'm wearing here is a navy knit dress with puff sleeves. I made it in my pattern making class. 

Emily's Wedding Dress: Adding Sleeves

Emily got married last weekend! 

During the wedding dress shopping stage, they were sending me pictures of any dress that she liked and we would quickly brainstorm what could be done to make the dress modest. She sent a few pictures of different dresses, and then she found THE DRESS. It was the perfect length and the bodice fit her like a glove. The only work that needed to be done was adding sleeves. Granted, that is a huge job, but it can be done!

She fell in love with the beading detail and the overall silhouette. Adding sleeves wouldn't be too much trouble because the front is not too low cut. I was confident right away that I would be able to create sleeves that would match the dress almost seamlessly. I did a similar alteration on a prom dress last year. 

We had two fittings with a cotton mockup of the upper bodice. The first draft was way too big and the second one fit her almost perfectly. After making minor adjustments to the second mockup, I finally cut the pieces out of the white satin, using the cotton as the pattern and eventually the underlining.

The first change I made to the dress itself was to remove the beaded flap from the neck edge. Even though it was a gorgeous detail, we all agreed the dress would look better without it once the sleeves were added. Luckily, the beading extended underneath the flap so I didn't have to re-bead the bodice.
I wanted to reuse the beads from the flap so I spent a lot of time removing those.

Once the satin outer layer was attached to the lining and the finished sleeves were sewn on, I then pinned it in place on the dress.

Shoulder pieces pinned to the dress ready to be fitted and sewn

After she tried it on one more time, I had a few adjustments to make. Once those were made, I had her try it on one last time! This time I was confident with the fit so I finally attached the piece to the dress. After that, I began beading!
The beading was easy, but oh so time consuming! I continued a border around the neck edge to make it look continuous. I also continued some of the bodice beading over the seam onto the shoulder pieces. This made it look as though the dress came with the shoulders and sleeves (I REALLY didn't want it to be obvious that sleeves were added).

After I finished beading, I hand stitched the lining fabric closed, added a few hooks and eyes, and it was finished! With not a moment to spare! Thankfully, she was a very easy-going bride so she didn't seem to mind too bad that I got the dress to her only a few days before the wedding.

Days before the wedding. Its finally finished!

I am so happy with how it turned out. I am so proud of the beading especially! I was sure to text a few update pictures to the bride as I made progress. This close up of the beading was one picture that I sent to her. 

Some of the beading detail

Congrats, Emily! So happy I got to be a small part of your big day! Now that I am finished, I think I might reward myself with a new dress...

Second Annual Prom Season

Prom season just came and went!

Lately I have been so busy with taking care of my almost three month old that it is hard for me to find time for my projects. Its been really stressful because I've had some MAJOR projects: altering two prom dresses and building sleeves onto a strapless wedding dress. 

During our busy season for our business (April through August), my husband doesn't get home until 8 or 9 at night. Most nights he comes straight home and is on "Peter Duty" for the rest of the night. If Peter needs something, he happily takes care of it so I can sew.  

A few weeks ago I finished my work on the prom dresses and it turned out great. 

Source

The beautiful result!

The first dress was a beautiful blue floral dress.
I hemmed the dress about three and a half inches and added blue satin underneath the sheer part of the bodice. It matched the lining fabric so perfectly!

The second dress I altered was a champagne lace off-the-shoulder dress with a train.

Source

I raised the lace off-the-shoulder detail to cap sleeves. Along with that, I removed some of the lace from the neckline to expose the sweetheart detail.
The hem had a beautiful train, but it may have been a bit over the top for a high school prom. I evened the hem to be straight across.

The lined cap sleeves and even hem

Nursing Friendly with Bell Sleeves

I'm not pregnant anymore!!

I loved being pregnant, but I am definitely relieved to fit into clothes again. 

I hardly made anything at all while I was pregnant, but now I have so many ideas of things I can't wait to make for myself!

There is a crucial functionality element when there is a newborn in tow: it has to be nursing friendly. And since my baby is a big eater (at two months old he eats 6 ounces every two hours!), nursing is very frequent and I need it to be easy and convenient. 

I sketched a dress with bell sleeves months ago. I imagined it with a seam detail down center front and across the bodice above the bust. The other night I was looking through my sketchbook for some inspiration and I knew I could work with that center front seam to create something nursing friendly! I am also really excited about the bell sleeves. They are so pretty and feminine. 

Inspiration for the sketch

The sketch.
I raised the deep v-neck and I ended up doing a circle-skirt peplum instead of a ruffled sleeve. 

I got to work making a pattern. I used my same old slopers, crossing my fingers that my body shape hasn't changed too drastically... 

I consider this a rather simple dress. However, it probably took me about 2 hours to finish the pattern and make it exactly what I wanted. Pattern making is so challenging, but thats why I love it so much!

Once the pattern was finished, I dug through my bin of fabric hoping I had enough for a dress. I love being able to use what I have instead of buying new fabric. We live in such a small apartment and it feels so refreshing to use what I already have. I only have one big box of fabric, and I reminded my husband that, considering how much I like to sew, my fabric collection could be a lot worse!

I found in my collection a cream rayon crepe fabric that drapes so beautifully. After laying out the pattern pieces as best I could, it BARELY all fit on the fabric. It must have been two yards or so! But it worked. I also had just enough ivory silk fabric from my wedding dress materials to use for the lining.

So I got to work! I serged all the edges and assembled the pieces and.... it looked like a graduation gown. The silhouette, the neckline, the seam lines, and the fabric choice all screamed graduation gown! It was awful.



I have a hard time leaving projects unfinished (especially when it is something I'm making for myself), so I went to buy some cream lace trim. I found two different trims that I loved so I got both!

Fun story from my trip to Joann Fabric for trim: while I was there, I heard a woman's voice that sounded so distinct and familiar to me. I peaked around the next aisle and it was none other than the actress Dot Jones! I'd recognize her voice anywhere. At one point, I think she may have even whispered "Oh, how cute!" as she passed sleeping Peter in his stroller. It was the highlight of our day!

Close up details of the two types of trim

The finished product!



The center front has an invisible zipper that is flanked on both sides by lace trim. I Also placed trim at the elbow seam, sleeve edge, neckline, and front and back bodice seams. 

I finished the dress just in time to wear it to church. It was my first time back to church since Peter was born, so it was kind of a big deal. The stark white was risky, but we didn't have any blowouts! Success! 

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